The Division of Israel and Judah

The following statements, from historical sources and quotations from prophecies of the Bible, trace the migrations of the ten-tribed House of Israel from the land of their captivity in Assyria right through to the British Isles. In 975 B.C. the kingdom of Israel was rent with civil war, which resulted in the division of the nation into two separate kingdoms. A northern kingdom was formed consisting of ten tribes with its capital in Samaria, and was known as the House of Israel. A southern kingdom was also formed, known as the House of Judah, which consisted of two tribes, with their capital being the city of Jerusalem.

Between the years of 741 B.C. and 721 B.C. the great armies of Assyria conquered the House of Israel, and in a series of invasions carried the ten tribes of the House of Israel into captivity. God allowed this tragedy to overtake them as punishment because they had fallen into idolatry as a people. The captivity of the House of Israel into the land of Assyria was complete, and only Judah remained in the promised land. This is referred to in the Bible in 2 KINGS 17:18, which reads: "Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only." Verse 23 of the same chapter reads: "Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day" (i.e. unto the day of the writing of the book of Kings).

Still Separated in Christ's Day

Dr. Scofield has this to say about the captivity of the ten-tribed House of Israel: "From this captivity, the ten tribes have never been restored to Palestine" (See note in Scofield Bible to 2 KINGS 17:7).

Josephus wrote about A.D. 70: "There are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Romans, while the ten tribes are beyond Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude." (ANTIQUITIES XI,5,2).

James, in his New Testament epistle, writing about A.D. 60, stated: "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting" (JAMES 1:1).

In this scripture James is writing not only to the ten tribes, who were an immense multitude beyond the River Euphrates as described by Josephus, but also to the great number of the two-tribed House of Judah who never returned to Palestine either.

Concerning the fate of the ten tribes, the Apocryphal book of Esdras has this to say: "Those are the ten tribes, which were carried away prisoners out of their own land in the time of Osea the king, whom Shalmanaser the king of Assyria led away captive, and he carried them over the waters, and so they came into another land. But they took this counsel among themselves, that they would leave the multitude of the heathen, and go forth into a further country, where never mankind dwelt, that they might there keep their statutes, which they never kept in their own land... For through that country there was a great way to go, namely, of a year and a half: and the same region is called Arsareth. Then dwelt they there until the latter time." (2 ESDRAS 13:40-45).

The Great Migration Starts

Interesting tombstones bearing Hebrew inscriptions have been discovered by archaeologists in the Crimea area. The translation of these inscriptions reveals that these tombstones were for the graves of members of the lost ten tribes of Israel! The Crimea is on the route the Israelites most certainly would have taken in their migrations from Assyria to Arsareth. Along this route is a mountainous defile through the Caucasus which is known to this day as the Pass of Israel.